A phone number? How refreshing. I thought people only texted and emailed each other — or so I was “trained” to do so by friends over the past few years. That said, I’ll disregard this email because I don’t call anyone anymore unless they call me. It’s the nature of the me-me-me world — I’m turning into “one of them.”

In addition to writing, book editing, marketing/promoting, I also manage entertainers.

The entertainers I manage are all retired or semi-retired seniors and I get them gigs at assisted living facilities, hospitals and libraries. Some have been with me since 2009.

Squeek Steele is an amazing pianist who performs the old rag time music on piano. I call her “flying fingers” because her fingers fly across the piano.

Check her out:

Squeek is from Virginia City, Nevada, and whenever she ventures out to New Jersey, she’ll call me to book her some gigs.

I gave her website to an assisted living facility that often has coffee socials and called them back a few days later to follow up.

The activities director said, “We would LOVE to have that handsome gentleman come perform!”

I was confused.

“Handsome gentleman? Squeek is a lady,” I said.

“A lady?” The activities director was confused too.

I was wondering if she had the right person, so I asked her if she was at a computer. She was. I gave her Squeek’s website and spoke slowly to make sure she got it right. Squeek’s site is: Good Old Songs dot com (http://www.goodoldsongs.com/).

Well, turned out, the activities director went to Good Ole Songs dot com (http://www.goodolesongs.com/) which is the website for entertainer, Tommy Schlein — all the way from Victoria, Texas!

Tommy Schlein

After having a good laugh with the activities director, I checked out Tommy Schlein’s website and was very impressed with his talent. And since this story was so funny, I decided to reach out to him with an email, explaining what had happened.

Within a half hour, Tommy called me! We had a great conversation and a great laugh. Turns out, like myself, he’s a Christian too.

It just goes to show how funny life can be when you’re least expecting it — and how you never know the nice people you’ll meet along the way. And if Tommy ever decides to visit New Jersey — he already is building his fan base, with me and the activities director it’s a pretty good start!

NOTE: The activities director wanted to book Squeek too, but the dates she was available didn’t jive with what the director had open on her calendar.